Spine and dine: A key defensive trait promotes ecological success in spiny ants

A key focus of ecologists is explaining the origin and maintenance of morphological diversity and its association with ecological success. We investigate potential benefits and costs of a common and varied morphological trait, cuticular spines, for foraging behavior, interspecific competition, and predator–prey interactions in naturally co‐occurring spiny ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Polyrhachis) in an experimental setting. We expect that a defensive trait like spines might be associated with more conspicuous foraging, a greater number of workers sent out to forage, and potentially increased competitive ability. Alternatively, consistent with the ecological trade‐off hypothesis, we expect that investment in spines for antipredator defense might be negatively correlated with these other ecological traits. We find little evidence for any costs to ecological traits, instead finding that species with longer spines either outperform or do not differ from species with shorter spines for all tested metrics, including resource discovery rate and foraging effort as well as competitive ability and antipredator defense. Spines appear to confer broad antipredator benefits and serve as a form of defense with undetectable costs to key ecological abilities like resource foraging and competitive ability, providing an explanation for both the ecological success of the study genus and the large number of evolutionary origins of this trait across all ants. This study also provides a rare quantitative empirical test of ecological effects related to a morphological trait in ants.     

慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖与凋亡的影响及其机制研究

目的探讨慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1(MBP-1)过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖和凋亡的影响及其机制。方法将体外培养的HCT116细胞分为以下3组:空白对照组,细胞未做任何处理;空载感染组,空载体对照慢病毒(LV-GFP)感染HCT116细胞;MBP-1过表达慢病毒组(MBP-1组),MBP-1过表达的重组慢病毒(LV-MBP-1-GFP)感染HCT116细胞。RT-PCR检测各组细胞中MBP-1 mRNA的表达,CCK-8实验检测细胞的增殖能力,流式细胞仪检测细胞的周期变化,Western blot检测细胞中MBP-1、NF-κB p65、c-Myc、CyclinD1及细胞凋亡相关蛋白Bcl-2、Bax、cleaved caspase-3的表达。三组间比较采用单因素方差分析,方差齐性采用F检验,若方差齐则组间比较采用LSD检验,若方差不齐则组间比较采用Dunnett检验。结果与空载感染组比较,MBP-1组在MBP-1 mRNA(1.02±0.15比4.56±1.03)、蛋白表达水平(0.18±0.01比0.72±0.10)、S期百分比[(39.12±2.18)﹪比(45.64±3.21)﹪]、G2/M期的百分比[(14.81±1.02)﹪比(23.16±2.12)﹪]、细胞中Bax蛋白(0.55±0.10比0.76±0.11)、cleaved caspase-3蛋白(0.45±0.08比0.81±0.11)表达水平均升高,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001),而细胞48 h OD值(0.58±0.08比0.43±0.03)、72 h OD值(1.10±0.13比0.52±0.09)、细胞G0/G1期的百分比[(46.06±1.89)﹪比(31.36±2.02)﹪]、细胞中Bcl-2蛋白(0.52±0.10比0.23±0.02)、NF-κB p65蛋白(0.61±0.13比0.16±0.03)、c-Myc蛋白(0.79±0.15比0.43±0.05)、CyclinD1蛋白(0.62±0.09比0.32±0.01)的表达水平均降低,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001);空白对照组和空载感染组之间各指标差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论MBP-1过表达可抑制HCT116细胞增殖及诱导细胞周期阻滞于S期,其作用机制可能与抑制NF-κB信号通路活化有关。     

Deep rice root systems reduce methane emissions in rice paddies

Plant and Soil - Phosphorus (P) mobility depends on the availability of water in soil, both of which are limited resources for crop production. We studied the mechanisms governing tolerance to...     

Effects of long-term antibiotic treatment on mice urinary aromatic amino acid profiles

The gut microbiota–host co-metabolites are good indicators for representing the cross-talk between host and gut microbiota in a bi-direct manner. There is increasing evidence that levels of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) are associated with the alteration of intestinal microbial community though the effects of long-term microbial disturbance remain unclear. Here we monitored the gut microbiota composition and host–microbiota co-metabolites AAA profiles of mice after gentamicin and ceftriaxone treatments for nearly 4 months since their weaning to reveal the relationship between host and microbiome in long- term microbial disturbances. The study was performed employing targeted LC-MS measurement of AAA-related metabolites and 16S RNA sequence of mice cecal contents. The results showed obvious decreased gut microbial diversity and decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in the cecal contents after long-term antibiotics treatment. The accumulated AAA (tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan) and re-distribution of their downstreaming metabolites that produced under the existence of intestinal flora were found in mice treated with antibiotics for 4 months. Our results suggested that the long-term antibiotic treatment significantly changed the composition of the gut microbiota and destroyed the homeostasis in the intestinal metabolism. And the urinary AAA could be an indicator for exploring interactions between host and gut microbiota.     

Variation in rare earth element (REE), aluminium (Al) and silicon (Si) accumulation among populations of the hyperaccumulator Dicranopteris linearis in southern China

Plant and Soil - Dicranopteris linearis is a rare earth element (REE), aluminium (Al) and silicon (Si) hyperaccumulator plant which occurs in southern China. To date, there have been no studies on...     

LncRNA MALAT1 mediates doxorubicin resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating miR-3129-5p/Nova1 axis

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Drug resistance is one of the major challenges for cancer therapies. In recent years, research on disease-related molecular signaling pathways has become the...     

Hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) regulates cell phenotype and invadopodia formation in luminal-like breast cancer cells

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Although luminal breast cancer cells are typically highly cohesive epithelial cells and have low invasive ability, many eventually develop metastasis. Until...     

PARP1 rs1136410 C/C genotype associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer in smokers

Molecular Biology Reports - DNA repair system plays a crucial role in maintaining genomic integrity and stability and in protecting against cancer. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) functions...     

草地贪夜蛾海藻糖合成酶基因的克隆、时空表达谱及对温度胁迫的响应

【目的】本研究旨在通过克隆草地贪夜蛾Spodoptera frugiperda的海藻糖合成酶(trehalose-6-phosphate synthase)基因SfTPS,分析其在草地贪夜蛾不同发育阶段、不同组织中的表达水平及不同温度胁迫时5龄幼虫中的相对表达量,为进一步探究TPS在草地贪夜蛾生长发育及抗逆应激反应中的功能奠定基础。【方法】运用RT-PCR技术克隆草地贪夜蛾SfTPS的全长编码区,并进行生物信息学分析。运用RT-qPCR技术检测SfTPS在草地贪夜蛾不同发育阶段(卵、1-6龄幼虫、蛹和成虫)、5龄幼虫不同组织(体壁、中肠和脂肪体)中和经短期(2, 4和8 h)高(35℃)低温(10℃)胁迫后5龄幼虫中的表达变化。【结果】克隆获得2 571 bp的草地贪夜蛾TPS cDNA序列,命名为SfTPS(GenBank登录号： MT920672),全长开放阅读框(ORF)长2 481 bp,编码的826个氨基酸具有TPS和TPP两个保守结构域。同源比对和系统进化分析表明,昆虫TPS蛋白具有较高的保守性,SfTPS与斜纹夜蛾S. litura的TPS亲缘关系最近,序列一致性达到99.15%。SfTPS中α-螺旋、β-折叠和无规则卷曲占比分别为38.14%, 12.23%和48.55%;SfTPS的三级结构为同源二聚体。RT-qPCR结果表明,SfTPS在草地贪夜蛾卵期和1-5龄幼虫期低表达,在6龄幼虫期、蛹期和成虫期高表达,且草地贪夜蛾变态前后SfTPS的表达量变化较大。组织分布结果显示,SfTPS在5龄幼虫脂肪体中表达量最高。草地贪夜蛾5龄幼虫经2~8 h低温(10℃)和高温(35℃)胁迫后,SfTPS的相对表达量显著高于对照(25℃),分别为对照的4.43~9.34和2.50~6.03倍。【结论】SfTPS基因在草地贪夜蛾生长发育过程及抵御高低温度胁迫中可能具有重要作用。